Martha Kent (nee Martha Clark) is a local farmer from the small town of Smallville. One of the many generations of the Kent farmers, around 30 years previous she and her husband Jonathan Kent found a spaceship containing an infant human-looking extraterrestrial boy. They took the boy in and adopted him, calling the boy Clark Kent (combining Martha's maiden surname with her current one). Raising the boy with strong moral standards, he grew up and in adulthood to eventually become the Earth's savior and constant protector, dubbed "Superman".

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Born Martha Clark, she eventually married Kansas farmer Jonathan Kent. Unable to have children of their own, they later discovered a small extraterrestrialspacecraft containing a newborn baby. They took the child and the spacecraft back to their farm and named the boy "Clark" (after Martha's maiden surname) and hid the spacecraft.

They brought up Clark as a normal child (not telling him about his heritage yet), but he soon began to develop extraordinary superhuman abilities. When Clark was 9 and attending school, his super hearing began manifesting, and soon Clark was hearing every sound simultaneously before his X-Ray Vision activated, greatly frightening Clark who hid in a closet, with his heat vision also activating in a small burst. Martha was called to the school, and helped Clark to control his new ability, before warmly embracing her child and taking him home, where she watched as he played in the garden, wearing a scarlet bed sheet as a cape.

Four years later, when Clark was 13 and went out on a school field trip, the bus he and his class were on crashed over a bridge, before Clark used his incredible strength to save the bus and his class, even Peter Ross, who had bullied him not long beforehand. It was at this time that Martha and Jonathan decided that they should reveal Clark's true origin to him, with Jonathan taking the responsibility of showing Clark his ship in the barn, and confirming to Clark that the latter is indeed an extraterrestrial.

Four years later, when Clark was 17, the family was out in their car and stuck on a highway traffic jam when a huge tornado began sweeping through the region. Jonathan ordered Clark to get Martha to safety and the two ran along with others for cover underneath a nearby bridge as Jonathan went to help other people escape. Clark realized that he could use his abilities to help people saving a little girl. Wanting to help his father Jonathan told him to keep his abilities secret and during the tornado Jonathan died saving others whilst making sure Clark's secret wasn't revealed to anybody.

Martha was devastated and Jonathan was buried in Smallville's Cemetery alongside his brother Harry Kent Jr. Shortly after this tragic period, Clark, left Smallville, finally heeding his late father's words and trying to find out his birth name, heritage, and the reason he was sent to Earth.

After years of traveling, Clark returned home to Smallville, and greeted his mum with an enormous warm embrace. As they caught up on the steps of the Farm House, Clark revealed to Martha that he had finally found the answers he was looking for, and that he knows his true calling in life - to provide the world with hope. Martha then told Clark about Lois Lane asking about him, and he assured her that she was a friend, before taking off to find her.

When General Zod, the military leader of Krypton, sent a message across Earth looking for Kal-El, Clark and Martha both saw it together on their television. Martha also saw Black Zero flying high over Smallville (much to her shock) shortly before seeing the message. Clark ultimately decided to give himself up to mankind, in order to save Earth from the extraterrestrial invaders.

Shortly thereafter, General Zod and his loyalists turned up in dropships at the farm looking for Kal-El and the Growth Codex. Faora Hu-Ul roughly picked Martha up off the ground by the throat, before throwing her to the ground and going to the barn to find Kal's ship (having seen Martha glance at it in desperation). Zod threatened Martha until Clark flew in at tremendous speed and tackled Zod off attracting the attention of Zod's loyalists, who left promptly left Martha, to battle Kal-El and the military in downtown Smallville.

Clark returned to the farm after successfully forcing Zod and his men to retreat and hugged Martha after a frightly scare. Clark then moved his ship from the barn and gave it over to Col. Nathan Hardy and Lois to use against Zod in Metropolis.

After successfully defeating Zod and all his loyalists in Metropolis, Clark returned home, devastated at having had to kill Zod, and was consoled by his mother. They then thought back to when Clark was 9 and used to play in the garden wearing a scarlet bed sheet as a cape, with Jonathan looking upon him with pride.

After an international incident in Nairomi, Africa involving Superman, Clark flies to the Kent Farm to see his mother. She tells him that she never wanted him exposed to the rest of the world and that he doesn't owe the rest of the world anything.

Clark then proceeds to go to a Senate Hearing, where Senator June Finch holds Superman accountable for the Black Zero Event and destruction in Metropolis. Martha is working in a local cafe in Smallville as she sees on the news that a bomb at the United States Capitol went off at the hearing.

As Martha is finishing her shift and locking up, she is kidnapped by Anatoli Knyazev. He takes her to a warehouse in Gotham City and holds her hostage for Alexander Luthor, Jr., where he plans to kill her using a flamethrower if Superman doesn't kill Batman in an hour.

With 10 minutes to go on the one hour countdown, Batman enters the building, taking out Knyazev's men one by one before using a henchman's gun to shoot the fuel tank on Knyazev's flamethrower. Batman then leaves to go battle Doomsday along with Superman.

Clark sacrifices himself in the battle with Doomsday, using a Kryptonite Spear to kill the monster. A funeral service is held for Clark, and shortly before Martha gives Lois a ring that Clark was planning on giving to her. They then head to the Smallville Cemetary to bury Clark, which Martha attends.

Martha is a very benevolent, kind, non-judgmental and honest person, who loved her adopted son Clark very much. Despite the many complications caused by his burgeoning superpowers, Martha was always very supportive of Clark, notably helping him swiftly overcome his sensory overload weakness. As Clark began to experience problems early into his career as "Superman", Martha remained supportive, trying to provide him with useful advice.

Martha is also remarkably brave, refusing to divulge any information concerning Clark when interrogated by Faora and General Zod, despite being visibly scared of the powerful malevolent aliens.

Diane Lane who portrays Martha Kent was married to actor Josh Brolin, who starred in the critically panned out of continuity DC Comics film Jonah Hex and turned down the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman in Dawn of Justice.[1]